Long Beach crime by year: the official numbers
The California Department of Justice publishes the crimes each police department reports, by year. These are the Long Beach Police Department's counts from the DOJ's Crimes and Clearances file, which runs through 2025. Violent crime covers homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime covers burglary, motor vehicle theft and larceny-theft.
| Year | Violent crimes | Property crimes |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2,304 | 12,438 |
| 2015 | 2,766 | 14,337 |
| 2016 | 2,846 | 14,224 |
| 2017 | 3,101 | 12,598 |
| 2018 | 3,284 | 11,922 |
| 2019 | 2,369 | 11,297 |
| 2020 | 2,343 | 12,707 |
| 2021 | 2,599 | 12,773 |
| 2022 | 2,438 | 10,556 |
| 2023 | 2,782 | 13,294 |
| 2024 | 3,004 | 15,454 |
| 2025 | 2,778 | 11,272 |
Violent crime in 2025 broke down as 29 homicides, 170 rapes, 756 robberies and 1,823 aggravated assaults. Property crime was 1,826 burglaries, 3,245 motor vehicle thefts and 6,201 larceny-thefts. Between 2019 and 2025 violent crime rose 17.3% and property crime fell 0.2%; statewide over the same years, violent crime fell 1.6% and property crime fell 22.9%. Property crime dropped 27.1% from 2024, the highest year in this table, and vehicle thefts fell 25.3%.
Long Beach crime rates compared with California
Raw counts mislead when you compare places of different size, so convert them to rates. Using the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 population estimate of 455,548 for Long Beach, the 2025 counts work out to about 6.1 violent crimes and 24.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents. The same calculation for California as a whole, using the DOJ's statewide totals and a population of 39,287,377, gives about 4.3 violent and 18.0 property crimes per 1,000. These are our calculations from the two official sources.
Long Beach is a port city with a large downtown, a convention center, an airport and miles of beach, so some incidents may involve visitors, workers and businesses rather than residents. Cal State Long Beach has its own police department, which reported 5 violent and 137 property crimes to the DOJ in 2025; those are not in the city's figures.
What these figures can and cannot tell you
They count crimes reported to police, not every crime, and some types, especially thefts from cars, go unreported. A change in counts can reflect reporting systems and police staffing as well as crime itself, so read a single-year jump with care and ask LBPD about any change in how it records offenses. Citywide totals also say nothing about a specific block. Long Beach runs from the port and downtown to residential streets near El Dorado Park, and the city does not publish an official neighborhood ranking. We do not rank or rate neighborhoods, and you should be wary of private sites that turn mixed data into letter grades.
Clearances, meaning crimes closed by an arrest or other means, show a different side. In 2025 LBPD cleared 1,042 of 2,778 violent crimes, about 38%, and 524 of 11,272 property crimes, about 5%, per the DOJ file. Statewide, the same file shows about 46% of violent and 11% of property crimes cleared. Because so few property crimes are solved, locks, lighting, cameras and renters' or homeowners' insurance do more for you than any area label.
How to check crime near a Long Beach address
LBPD Crime Dashboard
The police department's interactive dashboard has four parts: a city overview, crime trends filterable by division and offense, a Beat Explorer that shows activity by police beat, and a data extract page. It replaced the monthly PDF reports, which the department published through January 2026; older ones are in its archive. Pick the beat that covers your address and compare it with neighboring beats over at least a year.
LBPD Crime Incident Mapping
The city's incident map plots recent reported incidents around a point. Use a radius of a few blocks and look at several months, since a single week tells you little. The police reporting districts map shows which district an address falls in.
California DOJ OpenJustice
OpenJustice publishes crimes, clearances and arrests for every agency in the state. It is the best source for comparing Long Beach with Lakewood, Signal Hill, Seal Beach or other nearby cities on the same definitions.
FBI Crime Data Explorer
The FBI's Crime Data Explorer shows agency-level data reported through the national system, with rates and trend charts, and is useful for comparing with cities in other states. Its years and categories differ slightly from the DOJ file, so do not mix the two in one comparison.
California Megan's Law website
The Department of Justice's Megan's Law site maps the addresses of registered sex offenders that the law allows it to publish. California sellers must include a notice about this database in the purchase contract; the site is where you check it.
Flood, tsunami, earthquake and fire risk in Long Beach
Flood and sea-level risk on the Long Beach coast
Naples, the Peninsula, Belmont Shore and the downtown shoreline are low-lying. Look up the address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and ask for a flood insurance quote early. The city's disaster preparedness office lists flooding and sea-level rise among the hazards it plans for.
Tsunami hazard areas
The California Geological Survey publishes tsunami hazard area maps for the coast, and the city asks residents to know their zone and plan an evacuation route. Sign up for Alert Long Beach for emergency texts, calls or email.
Earthquake risk in Long Beach
The city calls an earthquake the most probable disaster it faces, given the faults nearby; the 1933 Long Beach earthquake is part of its history. Older homes may need foundation bolting or soft-story work. Cal OES's MyHazards tool shows earthquake, flood, tsunami and fire hazards for an address, and our earthquake insurance guide explains coverage.
Wildfire risk in Long Beach
Long Beach is a flat, built-up coastal city, but check the CAL FIRE hazard severity zone for any address anyway; the zone appears on the natural hazard disclosure you receive as a buyer. See our California wildfire zones guide.
A checklist before you buy or rent in Long Beach
- Look up the address on the LBPD dashboard and incident map for at least the last 12 months, and compare with nearby beats.
- Visit at different times: a weekday evening, a weekend afternoon, a summer night near the beach.
- Check the Megan's Law site and read the natural hazard disclosure.
- Pull the FEMA flood map, the tsunami map and MyHazards for the address.
- Get insurance quotes before you remove contingencies.
- Ask neighbors and the neighborhood association what they have seen.
For prices by area, see our Long Beach neighborhoods guide; for buying costs and timing, the Long Beach relocation guide. Statewide comparisons are in our California crime data guide.